Fantasy Story Book

[Kineta Storm]

Very Long ago, or it would have been had it been on earth, but since this story does not take place on earth, but rather in a different world,called Hendar, very much like our Ancient europe, There sat a very quiet and peaceful town. This town was called Parage and it sat in a valley between two of the largest mountains you have ever seen. There were no other towns in this Valley, just dense forests.
It was a Rainy Spring day when our story begins, and a young lad named Fee was out in the market gathering fruits and vegitables for Mar, one of the town's Wise women. Fee had lived with Mar most of his life, and though she was not his mother, or even his grandmother, he cared for her more than he did his own mother.
It was at this point that the sky grew dark and fire fell from above to pelt the poor village and frighten it's inhabitants. With the storm of fire, came a strange and peculiar laugh, that would make anyone's hairs stand on end. And with that laugh came Fangua, the most wicked person in all of Hendar.
You see Fangua had no heart, she had tormented her daughter, and planned the most horrific things to do to her son, but on the day that her son was born to her, Her own Daughter Faira stole him and brought him to Parage, to live with Mar, where he would hopefully be safe. But now, nearly 9 years later, Fangua had found Fee's little hiding place and was bent on extracting revenge on her son, for the acts of her daughter.

So on the rainy spring day, Fangua swept down from the sky bringing with her rain of fire, and grabbed Fee by his hair, dragging him off into the heavens with her. Now as she flew down, most had ran and hid, but one did not. Luffmar, a man of 20 some odd years, with brown hair and tanned skin, stood and watched as the fire fell from the sky, and when he saw the dark grewsome figure come out of the clouds, he faught his way towards Fee. For he had made a silent promise to Faira that he would always protect her brother. But as Fangua snatched up her son, Luffmar was still to far away to stop it from happening.
And as he watched the young blonde boy fly out of sight at the hand of the witch, he screamed in anger, and frustration, at his inability to stop it from happening.

In the next moment Luffmar had set out to find Faira, for surely she was the only one that could stop her mother from harming Fee. It was told that a strange lady lived deep in the woods. SHe moved as silently as the wind, and spoke to no one. Be Luffmar knew the truth, it was Faira that lived out there, and it was she that could save fee, and everyone else in Parage. For you see, Luffmar feared the truth, that when Fangua got her hands on her son, she wouldnt' stop there, she would eventually spread her hate to the entire village that had protected him and hid him for so long.

The journy through the woods was tough, and luffmar soon found himself out of breath and sweating. The sweat stung as it ran into his many scratches. But he was nearly there, and so he continued. It was late evening when he finally reached a giant oak tree, it was here he would find Faira. He nocked twice on the tree, and at first nothing happened, then leaves began to rain down apon him, and with them came an angel.
Faira was beautiful with her long flowign black hair, and her purpley blue eyes. Her skin was as fair as her name, and she wore a dark brown top and skirt, leaving her middrift slightly showing. on her back hung a bow, made of rich dark cherry wood. and to her side was strapped a long sword, made of only the finest metals.

"Faira" Luffmar breathed her name "we need your help" he said urgently.
For a moment she just stood there studying his expressions.

In a moment she knew, all she need to know, and before Luffmar knew what she was doing, she had grabbed a large staff from behind the tree and was walking away from him.

"I don't think you understand" he said urgently running after her, "She's got Fee, you have to save him". She appeared to take no heed of his words, and continued to walk farther away from him. "Faira" he shouted after her, as he ran to keep up "You're the only that can help him now, you're the only that stands a chance against her" he said, his words filled with the worry that was evident on his face.

Suddenly she stopped and turned on her heals to face him. "do not for a moment think that i am so cold blood as to leave my brother with that monster" she said, her voice barely above a whisper, but yet it was clear enough for anyone to hear. "But you are wrong" she said, letting her words sink in " I can not help my brother, I do not stand more than half a chance up against Fangua." she paused again.

Confusion crossed his tanned face, *what was she saying, how could she not help them* "But, but," he stammered, still trying to grasp what she had just said.

"we will see Araun now, he can help" she said to the look of confusion on his face, and then she turned and walked the other way.

His eyes grew wide, what did she mean ARAUN, certainly she wasn't so delusional as to think that he actually existed, and even if he did, he was said to be a monster. Stories of him were told to little children to get them to obey their elders. Surely he didn't exist, and why would she think to go to seek such a monster for help.

***

Meanwhile, in a castle, made of cooled lava and bones, high in the mountain to the north, Fangua sat in a makeshift throne of bones. Across the room from her, chained to the wall and surrounded by a shallow pit of hot coals, hung Fee, his feet felt like they were on fire, as the heat from the coals licked at his toes. On the other side of the coals, sat 2 monsters, covered in black and red scales, that looked like they were on fire. They growled and licked their chops as they watched Fee hang above the hot coals. The pit of coals wouldn't keep them away, it was Fangua's order that they leave him alone, that kept them at bay.

"Scared Boy?" Fangua asked, a wicked smile creeping across her grayish colored face. She was dressed all in ratty black robes, that made her look like she was constantly moving, and her ratted grey-black hair hung messily on her head, and reaked of dead flesh.

Fee closed his eye's and ignored her question, in return thinking of all of his friends, and family back in Parage that would be hurt by his mother's actions. And as he hung there he prayed that some one would come take him away from this horrid place.

"I AM YOU'RE FAMILY" Fangua practically shouted at him, as she caught his thoughts wander throuhg his head. "And no one is going to come save you" she laughed menicingly at the thoughts of hopelessness that would be floating through his mind now.

"You're wrong" Fee said timidly. and then before Fangua could yell at him again, he mustard his courage and said what he believed and hoped. "Faira will stop you, she'll save me" he said in a whisper to the lady that sat before him.

Surprisingly to Fee, Fangua began to laugh, almost al laugh of glee. "oh i'm counting on it boy" she said smiling visciously. "i have a great surprise waiting for that little traitor of ours" she said, and her eyes gleemed with joy as she thought about the look on her daughter's face when she fell into her trap.

***


Night had come , with dawn fast on it's heals. It wasn't until night came again that Faira and Luffmar reached the end of the dense woods and found themselves standing before a large cave entrance. From with in the cave came strange sounds. Water could be heard dripping off of the ceiling of the cavern. The sound of it hitting hte floor of the cave echoed off of the walls, mixing with the sound of deep growling.

"Stay here" Faira said quietly as she moved silently into the dark cavern. Luffmar followed behind her into the pitch blackness of the cave.

Dark tunnel collided with dark tunnel as Faira made her way throught the twisting caverns. It was pitch black when Faira stopped suddenly, leaving Luffmar to run squarely into her back. She cursed as she lost her footing on the 6inch wide ledge that she had been standing on. Her feet fell out from udner her and she reached out uselessly for a wall that was no longer there.
A sloped clay and rock coverd ground met her as she fell. She tumbled down the slope of the cavern landing in a divet of cold water at the bottom. As she stood up a loud booming voice echo'd through the cave.

"what do you want?" the deep voice demanded.

"You're assistance with an important matter" Faira stated calmly in a normal tone, as seh looked at a particular spot to her right, as if something strange was standing there.

"I am not here to help mere mortals" the voice boomed "now leave this place before I feel the need for a snack" a loud growl echo'd through the cavern following the comment by the loud voice.

"That's all fine and well, but we need you to defeat Fangua, and i will not leave until you come with me" faira stated softly.

At the conclusion of her words a loud bang was heard adn the cavern filled with smoke and flashing blood red light eminated from the spot Faira had been watching, right before.......


a large fleshy creature came out of the darkness towards Faira. Surprising the great wizard that had sent the monster after her, Faira pulled her sword from it's sheath and went on the defensive as the creature came towards her. It lashed out with a fleshy tenticle, and faira dodged it with ease, bringing her sword down to cut off the end of the tentacle, causing a thick brown ooze to spurt out. The creature made a god awful squeal before attacking again. This time, Faira wasted no time, in side stepping the next attack and using her sword to slice the monster in half.

Surprisingly it dissapeared, leaveing nothing behind but a brown stain on the floor. But before Faira had a chance to resheath her sword, or even think about relaxing, A winged lizard came up behind her and grabbed her by the shoulders, lifting her into the air. A mere second later she was falling back down to the ground as the lizard flew off crashing into a wall and disapearing. The dagger that Faira had planted in his torso, fell to the ground with a loud clank.

"You'll have to do better than that" Faira whispered to the darkness. Her only response was a loud cackle of a laugh. Next thing, the wizard had changed himself into a large red dragon with black sharp spine spikes. Fire flew from his mouth right to Faira's standing spot. But again she was to fast, she rolled out of the way, resheathed her sword, and then she was no more.

In her place was a small white dragon. As Araun attacked, with fire, claws and flying spikes, The dragon, Faira, dodged each and every attack. FLying high, and rolling and spinning in the air. It wasn't until Araun's fire came dangerously close to Luffmar, who still stood on the ledge, some 20 feet above their heads, that Faira called a stop to the fighting.
"that's enough" Faira said, and as she landed back on the ground where she had been standing before, she changed back into her normal human form. For a moment, Faira wandered if Araun was going to remain a dragon, and fry them both. But after a few moments of silence, the cave became light and the dragon was no more. In it's place was what appeared to be a short old man.

The chamber that they stood in, was a wide stone room, the walls behind Araun were lined with built in shelves. Each shelf was littered with bottles, books, scrolls, and peculiar looking items. In the center of the room stood a solitary round table. 4 chairs sat at each direction of the table (one to the east, one to the north, west, south). It wasn't until Araun stepped up to the table, that Faira realized, he was not an old man a all, but rather, a young lad of about 12 years of age.

"it's a pleasure to meet you in person Araun" Faira said, though her eyes studied him with light suspicion.
"I am Araun" he said, and to ease her suspicion, he gestured towards the table and 2 glasses of blood red fluid appeared at the north and south chairs. Timidly at first, Faira moved towards the table and took a seat at the south possition. She then waited patiently for Araun to sit and sip from his cup, before she tasted the strange liquid. Oddly enough it tasted like freshly squeazed mullberries, with a hint of melon.

***

Behind the 2 dining, Luffmar, was making his way down the slick slope to join them. Perhaps Faira was right, maybe he should have stayed back at the cave entrance, or even gone back to Parage to help his village, But he had come this far, and though stranger things were happening then he had ever anticipated, he would not abandon his post at Faira's side. Finally he slid the rest of the way down the hill and moved to sit in the chair to the east of Faira and Araun.

***

Faira looked up as Luffmar joined them. Araun on the other hand, was more than content in ignoring the mortal that had just sat down next to them, but he was a very hospitable person and therefor made a cup of light red liquid appear infront of him.

***

Luffmar looked oddly at the glass that sat infront of him. Then after looking at Faira and noticing that she was drinking her's with out a second thought, he took a sip of his. He was surprised to find that it tasted of vanilla and cherries.

***

"Why have you come here little one?" Araun finally asked, breaking the silence that had settled around them.

"First of all, I'm not little" Faira said sweetly " and secondly I'm here because the town of Parage needs your help dealing with a bit of a problem" she said, purposly not mentioning her mothers name, just yet.

"I'm not in the habit of helping mere mortals, let alone a whole town of them" he said irritably.

"But you have to help us" Luffmar blurted out despiratly. Araun didn't even glance at the young man that sat to his left. Rather he looked deeply into Faira's eyes.

"That may be true" faira said, also ignoring luffmar's intrusion " but if you do not help them, then Fangua will have her way, and kill them all, including my brother, Fee" she stated matter of factly.

"Oh,... so you come on perosnal business,... you really don't care about those people,... only you're brother." he said cruelly.

"Perhaps, but who i care about is no concern of yours" she said softly, " what matters, is that Fangua is free, and once she is done with Fee and the town of Parage, there is very little to stop her from wanting to claim the rest of this valley and the mountains that surround it." she said calmly, ignoring the fact that Luffmar's eyes had grown twice their normal size as she had spoken.

"Fangua is loose" Araun said surprised "last i heard she was trapped in ice by a young magician, and was stuck there for all eternity"

"she was" Faira stated, adding emphasis to the 'was'.

"Does Mar still live in Parage?" Araun asked curiously, his voice eminating the thoughtfulness that his face showed.

"Yes" Luffmar blurted out. This time Araun acknowledged his statement.

"then help i must young one, for Mar means much to me" Araun said, rising from his chair.

"I'm glad to hear that you will help us, now lets be off" Faira said standing and heading to the visable stairs that led up the side of the cliff.

"Not so fast sista" Araun said forcing Faira to stop and face him, "you're not going anywhere except back home" he declared "fighting monsters such as those that Fangua has locked away in her castle, is far to dangerous for a girl"

At that Faira's eyes got big with red hot anger "but it's not dangerous for a little boy?" she asked.

" I have magic to protect me" he stated smoothly "besides I'm not a little boy, i'm 10 times older then you are"

"well that may be, but I too have magic and can fend for myself, who do you think put Fangua into that ice trap in the first place?" Faira said, and turned abruptly to walk up the stairs and down the dark tunnel out of the cave.

***

The wind had began to blow hard, with a force only magic could create. Luffmar had long ago left the 2 wizards to return to the village and prepare them for what would come next. As Araun and Faira made their way through the dark woods, a large silver wolfdog, had moved out of the shadows to walk along side Faira.

"Good to see you Zane" Faira said quietly to the wolf, as he brushed against her.


Araun didn't seem to notice the big wolf join them, he simply continued walking ahead of Faira, by about 3 paces. They were on their way to the mountains, to hopefully find the layer of Fangua herself. They had been traveling in silence for nearly 2 days now, and something was churning in the back of Araun's mind. who was this girl? and how could she do magic so well, at such a young age? The thought was running over and over in his head, and yet after 2 days, still no answers had come.

The wind grew stronger, and Araun changed himself into a large stone construct, to keep himself solidly on the ground as they walked. Then something changed, the wind died away suddenly and a loud howling could be heard approaching them. Faira looked to the sky, or what she could see of it beyond the foliage of the trees.

High in the air, growing larger, as they got closer, was a flock of no less than 10 winged black creatures. They started to head straight for the traveling duo, and then half of them broke off and headed the other direction towards Parage.

Faira had her bow drawn and an arrow nocked before the monstrosities were even with in range. As they grew nearer, she let loose the arrow, hitting the lead creature squarely in it's right eye. Before anymore could react, she had 2 more arrows nocked and released, each finding it's way to another monster. The first caught one in the heart, while the second hit another in its shoulder.

"I'm going to parage" Araun hollered at Faira as he transformed into a smaller green dragon and flew away to stop the other 5 monsters from harming the villagers.

Faira heard him run away as she drew her sword to fight the remaining 3 monsters.

***

Luffmar had seen the Harpies comming towards them and had rushed everyone into their homes. He now stood in the center of town with half a dozen other men, all armed with swords or axes, ready to fight for their town. The first 2 harpies arrived quickly. One shot a ball of fire straight for the group, causing them to scatter, and lighting one of the men on fire. While the other flew straight for Luffmar, with it's claws extended, ready to tear him to peices.

Luffmar ducked, swinging his sword at the same time, cutting off the tip of the monsters' tail, which inturn caused it to scream in pain and spin around to attack him again. The second harpie had grabbed one of the other men buy his shoulders and flown into the air. The man that was on fire, had ran off, and would later be found unconscious and badly burned. The other 3 harpies had attacked shortly after the first 2 and had the other 4 village men, fighting and ducking for their lives.

***

Meanwhile in the woods, Faira had sliced off the head of a third harpie, while Zane had leapt onto another one, nocking it to the ground and tearing at its throat. The fifth harpie threw a ball of fire at the two, which Faira managed to turn into water before it could hit them. After it's final attempt to harm the girl and the wolf in the woods, the fifth harpie turned around and flew back towards the mountains from where it came.


"well done Zane" Faira said as the water rained down apon them, washing sweat from their brows.

~thanks~ Zane thought to her, as he licked his chops, enjoying the taste of fresh blood.

Faira smiled sweetly before responding again "lets keep going, Araun will catch up with us later" . With that she turned around and headed on towards the mountains that held the hidden layer of Fangua.

***

Luffmar had finally killed the one harpie. He had ran it through with his sword when it came to tear at him. when he turned around, after pulling his sword out of the monster, he saw that one other harpie had been killed and 3 of the men that had been standing with him were also dead. One man was severely injured. And only one other was still standing. All of them were covered in blood, luffmar included, their own blood and blood from the others and the harpies as well.

The 3 remaining harpies were still in the sky and flying around the remaining 2 men. As they came in for the attack, luffmar was ready with his sword out in a defensive posture. But a scream from the man behind him, made him turn to see what was happening. A medium sized red dragon was flying from the opposite direction and heading straight for the little group in the center of town.

***

Faira and Zane emerged from the woods, some 30 minutes later, and found themselves at the bottom of a massive cliff.

~looks like it's time for a bit of that magic of yours~ Zane said to her.

"I take it your in a mood to fly?" she said sweetly. and as zane nodded his furry head, Faira nodded hers and gave him silver wings, with which to lift himself into the the air. She then turned back to the cliff and grabbed the first hand hold that she saw, and began to scale the side of the mountian, With Zane walking up the cliff just below her, using his new wings to keep him from falling to the ground.

***

Two hours later, they found themselves 3/4ths of the way up the cliff when they saw a large cave entrance. Faira worked her way over to the entrance and climbed right inside. Moments later, Zane landed right next to her, having decided to try out his wings and fly the distance to the entrance. Once he landed he folded his wings up neatly on his back and sniffed the air.

~this place reaks of bad magic~ he thought to Faira.

"then this is it" she said and got to her feet looking around. The cave was dark, but Faira could see fine. before her was a long passage that wound slightly around several stalagmites. She moved smoothly through the cave, with Zane right behind her, keeping her eyes peeled for any type of trap.


***

Back in the village, Araun had flown to join them. In dragon form, he had scared off the remaining harpies, as well as the 2 men that remained alive with Luffmar. Only luffmar stood his ground as the dragon that was Araun, landed infront of him. He bowed his head slightly as Araun changed back into his youthful self.

"thank you" Luffmar said, reffering to Arauns appearance and help in getting rid of the harpies that had been terrorizing the village.

"No thanks needed boy" Araun said, "lets go talk to Mar before anymore come back". with that he motioned for Luffmar to lead the way to the town square where the wise men and women were gathered, and followed him into a building made of stone.


***
Faira walked slowly down the dark pathway, her heart beat softly in her chest as she approached each turn, not sure what she would find around the corner. Zane trodded slightly behind Faira, constantly blessing her mind with his opinion on their suroundings. They had been traveling through the tunnels for nearly and hour when Zane stopped, and tilted his ears back, as if he had heard something behind them. Moments later they both continued on their way.

They were coming apon another curve in the tunnel, when Faira stopped and squatted down on the ground. Coming up behind her, Zane followed suit, laying on his belly on the cave floor in the shadows before the turn. A strange hissing growl could be heard from around that bend, and Faira was deciding how she was going to deal with what she believed was a Magmum construct.

"Wait here" she hissed to Zane, for fire would not be good if it colided with his beautiful silver coat of fur. Zane obeyed, keeping low to the ground and crinkling up his nose at the acidic smell of the lava monster.

Faira rummaged around in her single little belt pouch for a moment, before standing. When she turned the bend, she didn't have her sword drawn, rather, the only thing in her hands was a small glass vial. No more than 10 feet away, facing Faira was a large black and red blob shaped creature that looked like he was made straight from the lava that poored out of the great volcano's on the other side of this mountain.

The Magmum looked up at her with beady red eyes and then moved forward, sliding on the ground and lighting the whole cavern on fire as he moved. Faira just stood and waited. When he was within 5 feet of her, she threw the small vial at him. As the vial hit the monster it shattered into a million pieces. And with every piece of glass that flew into the air, came a cup of water, dowsing the magmum in cold pure water, and turning him into a hard black lump of lava rock. As the magmum solidified, steam poored into the air, making the cavern even more difficult to navigate.

As the Steam rose to the air, Zane came up alongside Faira. He nudged her appreciatively, before sniffing the air again. ~we're good to go for a while~ he thought to her. With that Faira nodded and continued on her way along the path, making sure to avoid the lump that sat in teh middle of the hall.

***

well that's it so far, need to work on part 9